Winter In Lake Louise
In a region already renowned for its skiing Lake Louise stands out, regarded by many as among the finest winter resorts in North America. In addition to skiing and snowboarding, there are hundreds of kilometres of cross-country trails, numerous other winter activities, and landscape that's earned the area the title of "North America's Most Scenic Ski Area" from Snow Country magazine. It's also Canada's largest ski area, with over forty square kilometres of trails, plenty of mogul fields, lots of challenging chutes, vast open bowls and some of the best "powder" on the continent. Skiing started here in the 1920s. The first chalet was built in 1930, the first lift in 1954. The resort's real birth can be dated to 1958, when a rich Englishman, Norman Watson - universally known as the "Barmy Baronet" - ploughed a large part of his inheritance into building a gondola on Mount Whitehorn. Further lifts and other developments followed. More would have materialized had it not been for environmental lobbying. Further protests forestalled a bid for the 1968 Winter Olympics and put an end to a plan for a 6500-bed megaresort in 1972. Even so, the resort has grown, and now regularly hosts World Cup skiing events. The only drawback is the phenomenally low temperatures during January and February. The ski area divides into five distinct zones (Front Side, South Face, Larch Area and Ptarmigan-Paradise and Back Bowls), served by three express quad chairs, one quad chair, two triple chairs, three double chairs, a T-bar, a platter lift and a children's rope tow. The huge terrain - some of the bowls are the size of entire European resorts - divides as follows: Novice (25 percent), Intermediate (45 percent) and Expert (30 percent). Most of the bowls are above the tree line, but you can also ski on Larch and Ptarmigan, whose varied terrain allows you to follow the sun or duck into the trees when the wind's up. Average seasonal snowfall (early Nov to mid-May) is 360cm, and snow-making is available over much of the area. The top elevation is 2637m, giving a 1000m drop to the base elevation at 1645m. Lift tickets are around $54 a day, but bear in mind that you can invest in the Ski Banff/Lake Louise Tri-Area Pass , which you can buy for a minimum of three days ($157) skiing in Lake Louise, Mount Norquay and Sunshine Village . Facilities in the ski area include three day-lodges, each of which has a restaurant and bar, a ski school, ski shop, rental shop, day-care, nursery and lockers. Free shuttles run from Lake Louise, while transfers from Banff cost around $15 return: however, these transfers are included free if you buy the Tri-Area Pass. Free tours of the mountain are also available three times daily. For further information , contact Skiing Louise, Suite 505, 1550-8th St SW, Calgary, AB T2R 1K1, or Box 5, Lake Louise, AB T0L 1E0 (tel 522-3555, fax 522-2095, www.skilouise.com ). Reservations can be made by calling tel 2-LOUISE (tel 256-8473), or toll-free in North America 1-800/258-7669. Cross-country skiing in Lake Louise is also phenomenal, with plenty of options around the lake itself, on Moraine Lake Road and in the Skoki Valley area north of the village. For heli-skiing , contact RK Heli-Ski (tel 342-3889) who have a desk in the Chateau Lake Louise hotel (winter daily 4-9pm); one of their shuttle buses leaves from the hotel daily for the two-hour drive to the Purcell Mountains in BC (the region's nearest heli-skiing). The hotel is also the place to hire skates (at Monod Sports) for ice skating on the lake, probably one of the most sublime spots imaginable to indulge in the activity (the lake is floodlit after dark to allow night skating). If you want a sleigh ride on the lake shore, contact Brewster Lake Louise Sleigh Rides (tel 522-3511 or 762-5454). Rides are reasonably priced and last an hour, but reservations are essential: sleighs depart hourly from 11am on weekends, 3pm on weekdays.
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